Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.
Acting
Alastair Sim's manic-depressive Scrooge remains unmatched.
Cinematography
Shadow-drenched Victorian London that breathes coal and regret.
Score
Dramatic orchestral swells that refuse subtlety.

Director
Brian Desmond Hurst
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Alastair Sim reprised the role in a 1971 animated short, making him the only actor to play Scrooge in both live-action and animation.
This version invented backstory elements—Fan's death, young Scrooge's romance with Belle—that nearly every adaptation since has copied.